Back to Diluvia
by Eternal Density
Summary: Doc explains to Marty why he only has 4 digits for the year on the time circuits by telling the tale of a wild family trip back in time. Follows 'Sisters in Time'.
1. Marty's Idea

Back to Diluvia

Chapter 1

12:03 pm  
November 30 1985  
Hill Valley California

"Nice colour" Marty commented as he watched the painters at work.

"Indeed, but don't lean against that wall: it's covered in plaster dust" Emmett warned.

"Oops." Marty quickly brushed the white powder off his shoulder. "Can we head back to the lab now, or is there anything else you need to organise"

"Everything seems to be running smoothly for the time being. I must say I am glad I did not choose to paint the house myself."

"Yeah Doc, it's a big job. Can we get back to the lab"

"Of course, of course. I was about to say so myself."

"Great, let's go." Marty turned and walked as quickly as was safe, heading towards the makeshift lab that his friend had set up in the old barn. Emmett followed close behind.

"Now, I was just showing you what I planned to do to the circuitry, correct" the scientist asked his younger friend after the pair was settled into the lab.

"That's right Doc. You said you wanted to put in digital displays, or some hi-tech screen, so you could show locations in space as well as time. And you said you needed to put in a whole ton of circuits to figure out how to regulate the whatever-it-is to send the machine to another part of the earth. And you said something about upgrading the flux capacitor" Marty reeled off.

"That's about it; just remember that the circuits regulate the flux dispersal, particularly the harmonics of..."

"Doc, I understand harmonics when it comes to guitars, but 'flux dispersal' is a little out of my depth. All I remember is that stainless steel is good for it."

"That's right. Gold is good, and most conductors are..."

"You obviously don't mean a dude waving a baton around, right Doc"

"No, I don't mean that; certainly not. Is there anything you actually _would_ like to know, Marty"

"Yeah, there is. Why don't you extend the time circuit display to more year digits, and make it go negative so you can visit the earth millions of years ago and stuff? That would be cool, seeing things we only know about from digging up old bones and other rubbish."

"Ah, that's an interesting question, Future Boy. You can't say I haven't thought about that before."

"I can't? I mean, you have"

"Yes." His eyes began to twinkle. "In fact, you could say I've already tried it."

"I co... you have? When? What happened"

Emmett smiled broadly. "It all started back in early 1895. Jules and Verne had managed to pick up a dinosaur craze while in the future, and..."

To be continued…


	2. The Hole Story

reviewer notes:

clarafan: J and V don't cause all the trouble themselves…

staticrhubarb: interesting name. I kinda like it. I hope this is soon enough. (I've been away for a few days)

Anakin McFly: yep, you should have paid more attention in chemistry. Dudette is a cool word. And there is a teensy bit of resemblance to Kristen's story, but not more than that. Kristen is cool too.

fireinu: so do I!

Chapter 2

4:11 pm  
Friday, May 12, 1894  
Hill Valley, California

"Jules! Verne! Come inside and finish your homework" Clara Brown called from inside her kitchen.

The sound of the toolshed door being opened and then closed was heard, followed by the appearance of both boys through the back door.

"However did you get so dirty" Clara asked, shocked at the amount of dirt spread over her sons.

"Well, we were kinda..." Jules began.

"Tell me, Jules."

Before he could say anything more, a frantic barking emanated from somewhere in the back yard.

"Einstein" Clara called as she ran out the back door. "Where are you boy" She scanned the yard for any sign of the dog.

She gasped as her eyes found a deep pit, with Einstein struggling at the bottom. "Calm down Einstein. We'll get you out."

"What in the name of Isaac H. Newton is..."

"Emmett, Einstein fell into a hole, and can't get out" Clara called to her husband who had just appeared.

Emmett ran up to the hole. "Just stay still Einstein, and I'll pull you out." The scientist slowly reached down and scooped up his faithful pet. The moment his paws touched the ground, Einie tore round to the front of the house. "Einstein, come back at once" his master called.

Clara shook her head. "That dog isn't coming near this hole any time soon" she declared.

"What I want to know is why he dug it in the first place" Emmett responded, sounding annoyed.

"Emmett dear, I think you are asking the wrong question."

"You know where the right place is"

Clara simply waved a finger at her sons, who had watched the rescue, but were now trying to edge back inside unnoticed.

"Jules, Verne, how did you get so dirty" their father asked. Then he made the vital connection. "Ha! It looks like you've been a little over-zealous with the gardening. Whatever have you been up to?"

"It's a fossil dig," Verne finally admitted.

"A _dinosaur_ fossil dig," Jules elaborated.

"In the front yard?" asked Clara, incredulous.

"It's the easiest place to dig," Jules rationalised.

"I think," Emmett judged, "that the two of you can fill the hole back in, then do your homework, and then have dinner when you are finished."

"But Dad, if we fill the hole in…" Jules protested.

"No dinner 'til we finish? But…" Verne protested at the same moment.

"No excuses: just fill in the hole and do your homework. Call if you need any advice." The inventor-turned-blacksmith gave a quick wave to his wife and returned to his workroom to finish mending a broken wagon axle.

Clara prodded the boys towards the toolshed. "Really Jules, you should know better than to dig deep holes in the yard, especially without asking."

"But Mom, we need to find a dinosaur skeleton," Jules protested again.

"You can talk about that later. Now fill in that hole," Clara commanded, a little sternly, but partly amused at the same time.

Jules sighed and picked out a shovel. Verne grabbed a small one, but put it down as soon as his mother had left. He looked around furtively and snuck a piece of candy out of his pocket and into his mouth.

"What's that for?" Jules demanded.

"In case we get dinner late," Verne answered matter-of-factly.

Jules shrugged. "The best way to avoid a late dinner is to fill in the hole as quickly as possible."

Verne nodded, grabbed his shovel, and ran past Jules. Jules rolled his eyes as his brother nearly fell into the hole in his haste to begin.

6:07 pm

"Tell me about this fossil dig idea," Emmett suggested to his sons, after swallowing a mouthful of potato.

"We were reading some of your science books," began Jules.

"And looking at the pictures," Verne added.

"So I thought we should see if we could find some fossils ourselves, to check whether the books were correct or not."

"And Jules made us dig that huge hole, and you made us fill it in again, and I'm tired of it all," Verne summed up as he munched on some beans.

Their father grinned. "Very admirable intentions, but next time, try somewhere other than the garden. And remember, digging can be dangerous business anywhere."

Jules nodded seriously. "I hope Einie is not hurt."

"He's fine, though a little frightened. There was no permanent damage done, providing that the grass grows back."

"Can we try digging somewhere else, please?" Jules asked, attempting to avoid sounding over-eager.

Verne groaned, not sounding eager at all.

Emmett laughed. "Perhaps you mean, 'Can _I_ try digging somewhere else'."

Verne sniggered, and ducked Jules' elbow.

"Jules, if you brother doesn't want to help, that's his choice. You can't make him help you," Clara advised.

Jules looked glum. "Digging is too boring for one person." Then he straightened up in his chair. "But that will not stop me. Finding a dinosaur skeleton is something I must do, whether Verne helps me or not. Actually, he was mostly getting in the way…" He stopped to duck Verne's elbow.

"Perhaps you can settle for something else," Emmett suggested.

Jules shook his head. "Nothing can make up for a dinosaur skeleton," he said firmly.

"Don't be too sure, Jules. You don't know what you're turning down."

"Whatever it is, it can't be anywhere as good as finding a fossil dinosaur."

"Not even seeing a real live one?"

"But there aren't any!" Jules automatically protested.

His father smiled. "You can't prove that there aren't any living dinosaurs, but if there are any, I don't expect to find them any time soon. No, if you want to see a live dinosaur, you need to think fourth dimensionally."

A light bulb blinked on, somewhere in Jules' head. "Do you really mean that, Dad? Can we? May we? How soon?"

"How soon what?" asked Verne.

"Dad is suggesting we go back in time to see live dinosaurs," Jules explained gently.

"Cool!"

"And dangerous," added Clara, who hadn't said much for a few minutes. "We need to be extremely careful on this trip."

"As we always should be," her husband agreed. "If you boys promise not to dig up the countryside in search of bones – at least for a few years – then I don't see why we can't leave tomorrow night."

Jules saw the catch. "But Dad, the time machine can only take us to 9999 BC, right?"

Emmett nodded. "Precisely. That is why we can't go tonight, apart from the fact that it is almost your bedtime. With a few adjustments, we can go back as far as we could possibly need to. In fact, I need only expand the year display, and I should already have the necessary components. But remember, this could be a dangerous trip, so you must always do what your mother and I say, and stick close by at all times." He paused to think for a moment. "Actually… we might avoid landing altogether, and simply fly around to see whatever we can from the air. The thought of landing the time-train close to a dinosaur makes me feel too uncomfortable for polite words. In any case, we must be ready – for anything."

Jules nodded. "I understand. I'll behave."

Verne bounced in his chair. "I'll do _anything_ to see dinosaurs."

"In that case, you can check the horses before you go to bed," Clara suggested with a motherly smile.

Verne stifled a groan and obediently left for the barn.


	3. When is 'PreHistory'

notes to reviewers:

taigo: thanks. yeah, poor good ol' Einie

staticrhubarb: good. Einie'll survive, though he still gets left at home.  
the cliffhanger is so you review and read the next chapter :D  
and I did it again!

fireinu: yep, I'll definitely uppate soon. (sorry, I couldn't resist)

and with those unceremonious words, I bring you... the chapter

Chapter 3

8:15 pm  
Saturday, May 13, 1894  
Hill Valley, California

"Jules, did you put that last food box in the train?" Emmett called from the house.

"Yes Dad, it's in the back."

"Is it secure?"

"I put one of those straps around it, tight."

"That will be fine. I think we have everything we could need, even if we were stranded for a couple of weeks."

"Emmett, do you know where Verne is?" Clara called from some other part of the house.

"No, I don't."

"He's in his room, packing," Jules yelled helpfully. He began to run back to the house so he wouldn't need to shout.

"Packing what?" called his father at the exact moment Jules ran through the back door.

"Dinosaur books, and his sketchpad," Jules answered.

"Oh, you're inside now," Emmett said, a little startled. "He wants to draw the dinosaurs he sees?"

"Yes, he does. We can't bring anything back with us, except pictures. And you know how he likes to draw," Jules added.

His father nodded. "He certainly does. He may well be an artist some day. Run along and get your brother - nicely - and I'll see if your mother needs anything else done before we leave."

Jules nodded and walked smartly in the direction of Verne's bedroom.

Emmett found his wife in the kitchen, wiping down the cabinets. "Nearly ready to leave?" he asked her.

"Yes, as soon as I finish cleaning. I don't want to come home to a messy kitchen."

"It's a good thing you haven't made me tidy my workroom. We wouldn't be leaving for another week."

Clara laughed as she squeezed the last drops of water out of her sponge. "I'm ready to go now Emmett, but are you certain this trip is a good idea?"

"Hmm. Every time trip has inherent risks, and this is no exception. However, we are taking as many precautions as we can. We have plenty of emergency food, tools and spare parts in case of damage to the time machine, and remember that we could easily fly around for a couple of hours without putting ourselves in any danger."

"If you say so, dear. It does seem safe enough, but I still have a feeling that something might go wrong."

"Don't worry about that: Murphy's Law says that everything that can go wrong will go wrong. We can't stop it, but we can be prepared. And now that we are prepared, let's go and warm up the time machine. We can run a final check of the additions to the time circuits while we wait for the boys to finish getting their things together."

He slipped his hand around Clara's and walked her out the back door. "Remember to shut the door properly," he called back to the boys, "so Einie can't get out while we are gone, however short that time may be."

"Yes Dad. We shall be out in a minute," Jules answered.

The temporally-displaced scientist and his equally anomalous wife stepped into their special creation: the vehicle that was a curious mixture of technology and styles from three different centuries. Emmett powered up various parts of the circuitry, making sure all the readouts gave tolerable values. Everything checked out, so he stepped out to open the barn doors. When the doors were fully open, he double-checked all the catches and locks that held doors and hatches on the side of the train securely shut. As he returned to the cab, his sons ran into the barn with their bags.

"Quickly, boys. Climb in and secure your bags," their father instructed.

Jules and Verne did so, and sat down. Activating the hover systems, Emmett floated the train out of the barn and took to the sky.

"We left the door open," Jules pointed out.

"Don't worry: we'll be back in a couple of minutes," his father answered. "But on the other hand, we need to return the train to its proper shed by the railway line. Never mind that now: we'll sort it out when we return. Does sixty-six million years ago sound reasonable?"

The boys nodded their agreement.

Emmett tapped in a date. "I've chosen a date in summer. Hopefully the seasons are still aligned after such a long stretch of time." He pulled on the train's controls, causing it to gain altitude rapidly. "We don't want to be too low, as there could be mountains here in the past. Brace yourselves for temporal displacement."

Everyone held tight as the train reached a speed of eighty-eight miles-per-hour and vanished amid a multitude of blue flashes. What happened next was hard to explain. The time travellers felt a sensation of suddenly losing speed, as if hitting something, and then of rushing backward in the opposite direction. However, the movement they felt did not seem to be in any particular direction.

The time displays flickered and began to change rapidly. The destination time rapidly shrank. Eventually, the change slowed and the display settled on a number. With a rush of sound and light, the train burst back into the timeline. The whole process felt like it had taken no time at all. Totally unfamiliar views flashed by the windows.

The four passengers stared at one another dumbly for a moment, startled. A popping sound, accompanied by the smell of burnt circuitry, snapped them out of their stupor. Emmett put the troubled vehicle into a fast decent, hoping nothing was critically damaged. The time circuits flickered off completely, and the sound of beeps and buzzers was heard.


	4. Stuck

Reviewer Notes:

fireuni: yep, they've stepped in it!

staticrhubarb: well, this is Doc's recounting of the story, so do you think they'll be okay?

Unknown Time  
Unknown Location

Doctor Emmett Brown breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the troubled train touched solid ground. He immediately shut down all power to stop any further electrical problems from occurring. The unhealthy arcing sounds stopped in short order.

"Where are we Emmett? When are we?" his concerned wife asked.

"Judging from the state of the time circuits, I believe we are only a few thousand years in the past, though I couldn't say how many, or whether I should believe that they actually sent us to the last time they displayed before the transition completed. In fact, we might be at any point in the continuum, from they way the circuitry was acting. Similarly, we could be anywhere on Earth, and I am relieved that we still _are_ on Earth. That aside, sunset is approaching."

Jules and Verne just sat open-mouthed, not moving. Finally Jules ventured to ask, "What went wrong?"

"That is what I intend to find out," his father answered, a little sourly. "Possibly something unexpected occurred when the time circuits tried to compute the correct flux-dispersal patterns, preventing completion of the temporal transition. Or maybe a short circuit caused the intense electrical energy to leak into the time-circuits, thus scrambling them. In any event, it smells like I'll need to replace a large amount of wiring."

Verne sneezed in agreement. He seemed to have a nasty allergy to burnt plastic.

"Verne, we'd better take you outside, before your eyes start watering," Clara suggested, realising what was happening. "Emmett, can you please open the door?"

Emmett nodded and released the door manually. Clara pushed it open and let Verne into the clear air. "Don't go far. It will be dark soon," he warned his wife.

"We'll sit on the bottom step until the air clears," Clara agreed. "The plants don't look at all familiar," she observed a moment later.

Emmett hardly heard her, as his mind was occupied with the task of removing the panels that covered the parts he needed to access. He was feeling pleased that he had changed the displays and inputs to be electronic rather than mechanical in the recent months. Otherwise, the symptoms of the problem would have been less visible and harder to diagnose.

After several minutes of tinkering, the time traveller had reached some conclusions. "It appears, that some unusual glitch in the system prevented the transition from progressing to completion, and left us stranded between times. The Destination Time setting was then changed, which altered the flux-dispersal patterns, causing us to enter the time period we now find ourselves in. In the process of adjusting the settings, less energy was needed than what had already been dispersed. This energy had to go somewhere, so it arced into the internal wiring, which is normally insulated from the dispersal conduits. Since that part of the wiring..."

"Simply put, a small amount of the 1.21 gigawatts found its way into the time circuits, and destroyed them, after we entered this time," Jules put in, understanding what his father was getting at.

"Precisely. Now we need to replace the damaged wiring and the time machine will be restored to full operation."

"Are the hover-circuits damaged, Dear?" Clara asked from the stairs.

"Thankfully, no. However, I am afraid to attempt using them, as there are many fused wires, and a dangerous number are either hanging loose, or their insulation has melted off. I could easily damage more of the circuitry by turning any power on. First we must remove the damaged wiring, so we can be certain the working circuits are isolated from the damaged ones."

"But Dad, what will prevent the problem from recurring? There must have been something wrong with the train already that stopped it from working properly."

"I haven't altered the circuits in any way since we last used the train," Emmett said, pleading innocent. "Perhaps we hit an aberration in the continuum that threw the circuits out of adjustment, or caused some electrical anomaly, which caused the circuits to run wild," he suggested.

Verne and Clara climbed back into the train, as the air had cleared. "Maybe it was aliens," Verne suggested, feeling bored.

"Did you touch anything in the train, Verne?" Clara instantly asked, wondering if he was trying to blame something he had done on aliens, something he tried too regularly.

"No, it weren't me," Verne answered honestly.

"Wasn't," his mother corrected.

"Jules, wasn't you in the barn yesterday?" Verne asked, remembering that his brother had been out there a few times.

"Yes, but Dad didn't bring the train over to the house until much later," Jules parried. "And it's 'weren't'."

"But Mom said..." Verne protested.

"Dad, remember how it felt like we were moving backwards or something?" Jules said unexpectedly.

"When?" his father asked.

"Well, some time during the transition. It is not easy to tell when anything happened during the transition."

"Hmm. It's not easy to remember. Everything happened so fast. Actually, it was slow, but..."

"Time's weird between times," Verne put in.

"Yes, that's a good way to put it. Now that I think of it, there was a sensation of reverse motion, but it seemed so unusual that it was easy to forget. It was rather curious, don't you think?"

"It is like we bounced off something," Jules suggested.

"But there isn't anything to bounce off," Emmett argued. "Unless we inadvertently attempted to travel to a point in time before the beginning of the continuum, which would fail, since there is no such point in time. But that is not possible, since we only travelled back sixty-six million years. There should be plenty of room between then and the beginning."

"Then why did happen?" Jules pressed.

"Perhaps I made an error in the circuits, which caused them to try taking us back much further than I expected. But I fully tested them a number of times!"

"Emmett, remember what Jules said about why he was digging for fossils?" Clara asked, apparently leading up to some point.

"He said... he wanted to check whether the books were correct. How does that relate to our current situation, Dear?"

"Suppose they're wrong. Perhaps the earth is not as old as some people think it is."

"And in trying to go back too far, we bounced off the beginning and ended up here?" her husband extrapolated. "Possible. I think it would be best to wait and see how things look in the morning. It is too dark to work, I don't want to use any light other than torches until I sort out the wiring problems, and it is high time the boys had some sleep."

"But Dad, we just got here!" Verne protested.

"Verne, remember what you promised," his mother warned. "We'll have plenty of time to do things tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll go to bed. Where are the blankets?"

"I packed them, in the back," Jules answered helpfully. "Should I take a torch and bring some for everyone?"

"Yes, but watch your step, and keep close to the side of the train," his father instructed.

Jules brought the blankets, and soon everyone had managed to doze off into a sleep plagued by dreams of the unknown time and place in which they had unexpectedly become stranded.


	5. Breakfast and Explorations

Chapter 5  
The Next Unknown Day  
The Same Unknown Location

The entire Brown family awoke at 7 o'clock precisely the next morning, thanks to the work of Emmett's pocket alarm-clock. He knew it was precisely 7 o'clock, as the hour and minute settings of the time circuits had remained safely unchanged, and he had set them to the same hour and minute of their departure from 1894.

The four family members looked around the cabin sleepily, and hungrily. The morning light streamed through the coloured windows, lighting the cabin's interior with a dramatic effect. Jules stood up and looked out of one of the windows, scoping out the surrounding landscape.

"The vegetation appears to be remarkably lush and large," he remarked to his family. "I don't see any animals though. Maybe we should take a look."

Emmett shook his head. "Not right now, if at all. We need to have a quick breakfast and get back to the repair job."

"We have some fresh fruit," Clara suggested. "Fruit doesn't need any preparation, so it will do well for a quick morning meal."

Her husband nodded. "That will suit us fine, Clara. We'll collect it together, and leave the boys to get that sleepy look out of their eyes."

Clara nodded with a smile, and accompanied him to one of the storage lockers in the tender. When he began peaking in a low, quiet voice, she realised he had another motive for leaving the boys.

"Clara, I don't like the looks of this place one bit," he began, concern covering his face like a mask.

"Why in particular? It looks pleasant enough," she responded, unsure of the cause of his worry.

"It does look pleasant, but what about the sound?" his voice moved to be barely above a whisper.

"Yes... it does sound awfully quiet," she allowed.

"Awful indeed. Not a living creature has stirred since our arrival. It's as if everything is in hiding or something similar. It's just the same as when animals act unusual before a large storm. And from what the time circuits showed, we are in a time period with plenty of animal life."

Clara nodded, filling a wicker basket with fruit. "It does feel like the proverbial calm before the storm. You had better fix the damage to the circuits as soon as possible." She looked intently into his big, brown eyes. "I know you can do it."

He took the laden basket from her and placed the other arm around her shoulders. "No need to worry. I would appreciate it if you could keep the boys occupied for the duration of my repair work. While I enjoy their involvement, I can work faster without them."

"I can do that for you no problem," Clara answered devotedly. "It would be much easier if we could take a walk outside though," she added.

"Of course. We can't expect our sons to stay in the train the whole time, and there doesn't seem to be any animals in the vicinity."

"Mom! Dad! Aren't you bringing breakfast?" Verne called from inside.

"Can you hold on for eight seconds?" Emmett called in reply.

"While that fact is currently unknown, it is probable that he can," Jules answered, quite unnecessarily as his parents returned moments after he finished speaking.

"Let's see what's over this rise," suggested Verne excitedly.

"Alright, but we won't go any further than that," Clara responded sensibly.

Jules looked around at the thick, green plants. "It appears that we are coming to the edge of this jungle," he pointed out. "It's amazing how thick some of these creepers are."

"Yes, they _are_ rather large. Verne! Don't run on ahead, there could..."

"Oooh!" called out Verne from ahead. "It looks like a building up on that hill!"

Jules and Clara quickly caught up and looked in the direction Verne eagerly pointed. A huge wooden structure stood on a raised plateau, quite some distance away.

"I can see it, but I can't tell what it is," Clara bemoaned. She dipped her right hand into the pocket of her sky blue dress and pulled out a pair of tiny, yet high-powered, binoculars.

"What can you see Mom?" Verne asked excitedly.

"It seems to be some sort of ship, boys. Why it's up on that hill is beyond me."

"Can I see?" both boys asked, noisily and simultaneously.

"If you take turns," their mother allowed.

"Verne can go first, because he located the object originally," Jules spouted, hiding the fact that he would have preferred to go first, but knew it was most brotherly to allow Verne the first look.

Verne carefully placed the binoculars over his eyes and scanned the side of the object. It was almost facing towards them, obscuring its true length. There appeared to be a door in the side, with something moving..."

"There are _animals_ going into it!" Verne declared in youthful astonishment. "Hey, some look like dinosaurs."

"Let me look!' Jules demanded, more bossily than he intended.

Verne held onto the binoculars for a few more moments, and then reluctantly passed them up to his brother.

"You're right, some are dinosaurs. There's doesn't seem to be many of each type though. And they all look like juveniles," Jules observed.

"How can you see all that from here?" Verne wondered.

"I turned the zoom up," Jules answered.

"Oh."

"May I look again?" the boys' mother asked presently.

Jules handed over the device with a flourish. "I think there might be _people_ up there," he noted.

Clara studied the scene carefully. "I do believe there are. It is not entirely surprising. Actually, it is to be expected, as that ship, or whatever it might be, could hardly have built itself."

"May we go closer?" Jules asked hopefully.

Clara shook her head. "It wouldn't do any good, and we should be getting back to the train. If your father needs more than a few hours to finish, we could come back for another look."

"Can we?" Jules asked with an urgent look. "I was in such a hurry to get out for a walk that I left my camera in the train," he lamented.

"It is quite likely, although I cannot make any promises. If not, you can take aerial shots of it." Let's head back now."

The brothers took one last look back at the huge wooden structure and followed their mother back into the trees.


	6. A Change in the Weather

Chapter 6  
12:32 pm  
The same unknown day and location.

After a light lunch of cheese sandwiches, Jules and Verne managed to keep themselves occupied for a short while. However, Verne soon grew tired of drawing when he could be outside discovering new things to draw. Jules watched his father's repair work with waning interest, as he really wanted to snap some pictures of the unknown wooden object.

"How much longer do you expect the repair will take?" Clara asked her husband, wondering if there was time for another walk.

"I estimate it should take approximately one hour, twenty minutes," Emmett answered after thinking for a second.

"Plus or minus thirty seconds," Jules added under his breath.

"In that case, could the boys and I take another walk?"

"That should be alright. Did you see anything interesting earlier?" Emmett asked, having not had time to talk about it when they returned (particularly because he had to work underneath the train for an hour).

"We saw a large wooden structure up on a hill. We think we saw animals going into it, including some dinosaurs," Clara explained.

"That is unexpected, though not totally surprising. Just because most palaeontologists think that dinosaurs died out millions of years ago doesn't mean that there aren't still some around."

"Paleeo-what?" Verne asked.

"People who study fossilised bones and such. Didn't you read all the books?" Jules replied.

"You read some stuff to me, but I mostly looked at the pictures," Verne answered.

"How close were you?" Emmet asked.

"We needed full zoom on the binoculars to see the animals properly, so not close at all," Clara explained, lessening his fears.

"You can take another look, but don't go any closer, and make sure you take the radios again. I have the time control circuits properly functional, and all the flux dispersal conduits are insulated properly. Now I need to go over the hover systems..."

"The hover systems? But if they weren't working, we would have crashed!" Clara protested, rather worried.

"No, there's a backup system for landing in an emergency. The damage is mostly confined to the control circuits, and practically all the damage occurred in the last few seconds before we landed. I took care to ensure the hover system would stand a lot of beating, but not this much!"

Clara looked around for the boys, and found they were already halfway out the door. She picked up her radio and hurried after them.

"There it is!" exclaimed Jules, spotting the long wooden structure. The explorers had not taken quite the same path, so they ended up in a position to see for of the long side of the object.

His mother gave it a quick sweep with the binoculars. "I can't see any animals this time. I think there's a person outside, but it's hard to see from this distance," she reported.

"Let me look, let me look!" Verne begged.

"Here," said his mother as she passed the binoculars down to him. "Just a quick look, and pass it to Jules."

"I can see someone, they're walking away from us, towards the... doorway thing. From this angle it looks like a ramp that goes up to the middle and..."

"I believe it is my turn to look now," Jules stated firmly, holding out his hand expectantly.

Verne grunted in annoyance and handed his brother the binoculars. "I can still kinda see the ramp without the binoculars, but it's really tiny!" he reported, relieved that he was not totally robbed of vision of the object. Suddenly an idea hit him, and he started searching through his pockets.

"It is like a scaffold or gantry: it isn't attached to the side of the... whatever it is. The person is starting to walk up it. I think it's a man. He's stopping and turning around. Definitely a man. He looks old, but it's hard to tell. Now he's walking in the doorway. It's a big doorway, and it looks like there is a door to ut, but it's opened up so far that it's flat against the wall, so it's not easy to see. The man is inside now."

"May I look again, Jules?" Clara asked.

"Here, Mom." He passed up the binoculars and strained his eyes to continue watching.

"The door, it's moving! It's swinging shut!" Clara exclaimed.

"I see, but what's moving it?" Jules asked.

Clara zoomed in on the door. "Nothing, it's just swinging by itself. It's nearly shut! It's closed!"

Several seconds later, a loud slam assaulted the ears of the three explorers.

"Whoa, that was loud!" Verne exclaimed.

"Did you see it?" Jules asked excitedly.

Verne waved his camera around. "Sure did. Snapped some pictures. With the toleph... tephel... tepophet... that long distance lens."

"Telephoto. Good work Verne," Jules congratulated.

Clara's radio crackled. "What was that sound I heard?" Emmett asked.

"Oh, remember that large wooden structure I mentioned?"

"You said something about animals going into something. I was a little preoccupied when you said that."

"A man just walked up the ramp into it, and the door closed behind him, by itself. It slammed rather hard."

"Interesting. Did you say the door closed by itself?"

"Yes, it has hinges, and swung through a half-circle. There was nothing attached to it, and it looked very heavy too."

"Remarkable. There's something very familiar about all this."

"Yes, there is, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Say, it's kinda like Noah's Ark," piped up Verne. "You know, how all the animals went into the Ark, and then God shut the door." Verne seemed to find his suggestion funny, and began laughing to himself.

Jules stared at Verne with wide eyes, then turned and stared at the wooden object with wider eyes, and then turned back to Verne and repeated the process. Clara gasped, paled slightly, and shouted, "Emmett!" into the radio.

"Clara! What's wrong?"

"Verne just helped me realize what's going on. It's Noah's Ark. And after that is…"

"Noah's Flood! We must leave this time period immediately! I still have ten minutes of work before the train will be ready for temporal displacement. You must get back here as quickly as you can."

"We're on our way, Emmett," Clara answered, having already started running back into the trees. The two boys followed close behind her.

"No wonder it has been so quiet here: it is the proverbial 'calm before the storm'," Jules observed as he ran.

"Don't talk, just run!" Verne retorted, now understanding the seriousness of the situation.

"We can't really run in all these trees: there's too many things to trip over or get caught in," Jules argued.

"Quit nagging and look where you're going."

"Boys, please don't bicker. It doesn't do any of us any good."

The boys pushed on in silence, each wondering who would be the first to trip over. Their unspoken question was answered a minute later: the ground gave a sudden lurch, throwing the three fleeing explorers to the ground.

"Emmett!" Clara called into the radio when she had regained her breath. "Are you alright? Is anything damaged?" She held her breath as she waited for a response.

"The battery was knocked out of my radio, and I dropped a box of computer disks on my foot. But nothing's damaged. Are you or the boys hurt?"

Clara turned to see the boys behind her. "Verne scraped his arm on a tree, and Jules is bandaging it with his handkerchief. They'll be fine. But you should move the time machine of the ground if you can, in case there's another shock.

"Good thinking, dear. I'll warm up the hover systems right away."

"Be careful."

"You be careful, Clara: a tree could fall over."

"We'll keep our eyes and ears open." Clara returned the radio to her pocket. "Boys, we need to get moving."

Jules and Verne did not seem to hear her. They were preoccupied with looking up into the sky.

"Jules! Verne! We've rested for long enough."

"Mom! Look!" Verne shouted, pointing up into the sky.


	7. All Over? Ninety Eight Percent Certain

Chapter 7

Clara looked up towards the sky. The trees were very sparse at this point, so much of the sky was visible. Or should have been visible. Instead, a dark mass was rapidly filling the sky.

"Is that clouds, or smoke, Mom?" Verne asked curiously.

"I don't know, and it doesn't really matter," she replied a little snappily. "Let's get out of here!" She started navigating through the trees again, and the boys trudged along close behind, Jules holding Verne's hand.

Half a minute later, the party were almost knocked off their feet by a second quaking of the earth. A loud snap warned Clara of a falling tree ahead, so she jumped backwards to keep well out of the way. Jules and Verne bumped into her from behind.

"Ow! Careful, Mom," Verne yelped, rubbing his sore arm.

"It's better than ending up underneath a tree, Verne," Jules pointed out. "Come on," he urged, starting forward again. Unexpectedly a strong gust of wind whipped through the region, ripping off leaves and small branches. Jules' hands flew up to his face to protect his eyes. "Whoa, I wonder what caused that," he yelled, trying to be heard over the howling wind. It showed no signs of slowing.

Clara tried to struggle forward. "I don't know," she yelled, "but it doesn't look good. At this rate, we won't have time to get back to the train."

"You think it'll rain?" Verne asked as loudly as he could, mishearing his mother.

"Sink in what?" she shouted back.

"No, I'd say it's cold," Jules joined in.

"What's been told?" Verne wondered. "Hey, you're right, it is raining!" And it was: big fat drops of water were dropping out of the sky and splattering the landscape at high speed, almost horizontal.

The trio gave up on speaking as they pressed on through what was left of the trees. A constant river of dirt and vegetation blew by, scratching and battering everything in their path. Adding to the trouble, the rain quickly turned the ground into a collection of muddy puddles

Bracing herself against a tree trunk, Clara slowly pulled the radio out of her pocket. "Emmett! Where are you?"

"Clara! I'm attempting to hover in-place instead of being carried away by these winds. I've had to go up high enough to avoid all the debris."

"What about us? We can't avoid the debris and it's muddy and the wind is too strong to walk without holding onto the trees!"

In the cab of the train, Emmett suddenly realised how selfish and negligent he had been. What had he been thinking, leaving his family to trek in these kind of conditions? "I'll come down and pick you up. The final system checks are nearly finished, and they all look good. Stay where you are, and try to shelter from the wind. I've pinpointed your position from your radio signal."

"Please hurry, Emmett, we can't survive for much longer!" Clara replied desperately. She looked around for her sons, to see them sheltering behind an immensely thick tree of unknown species. Returning the radio to her pocket, she crawled over to them. "Your father is flying over to pick us up!" she shouted in their ears.

Jules nodded in understanding, and Verne grinned. "Dad to the rescue!" the boy exclaimed. "Hey Mom, you should take a look at all the pictures I've taken!"

"Not right now," Clara answered in his ear. She was somewhat surprised that he was handling the situation so well. In fact, he seemed to have forgotten about his injured arm in his youthful excitement. She pulled out her radio again, waiting for Emmett's next transmission.

Sure enough, she shortly heard him say, "Clara, do you hear me? I'm above your approximate position. Please respond."

"I hear you, Emmett." She looked up into the sky. "I think I see something, but the visibility is terribly low."

"Ah, there you are. I now have your exact position. I'll come down as low as I can... but I won't be able to land. I'll need to throw down a rope."

"Understood, Emmett. We're ready." She turned her head to face the boys. "He's throwing down a rope," she repeated.

Emmett gradually guided the train into position. He swung it broadside into the wind. This orientation made it much harder to resist the forces of the wind and driving rain, but it allowed the doorway to be sheltered, protecting the inside of the time machine.

Taught by some of his earlier (or later) experiences with Marty, he had obtained a good quality rope ladder and stored it in the cab in case he again needed to pick someone up while flying. Now he located the two hooks on one end of the ladder and snapped them into a pair of sturdy rings set in the floor of the cabin. With the end of the ladder thus secured, he opened the door and hefted out the bulk of the ladder.

"Clara, I've thrown down the ladder! Do you see it?"

Clara looked around frantically. "No, Emmett, I don't! I can see the train: it's nearly right overhead."

Emmett peered out the door, and was most disappointed to see the ladder in an almost horizontal orientation, dragged out by the extreme winds. "The wind's too strong!" he called to Clara over the radio. "The ladder won't reach the ground, it just blows out sideways! It's much too light."

Clara's face fell. "Is there anything you can do? Maybe you could... tie something onto the end of it."

Emmett frantically scanned his eyes around the cabin. He glanced at the instruments, making note of the wind speed, and made an estimate of the weight required to swing the ladder near enough to vertical. "I'm afraid there's nothing here that would be heavy enough!"

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Clara responded frantically.

"What is wrong, Mom?" Jules asked, concerned by her tone of voice.

"The wind's too strong for the ladder to reach us, and there's nothing heavy enough for your father to tie onto the end to weigh it down," she explained in his ear.

A light-bulb went on in the boy's head. "Couldn't _he_ weight it down?"

"But with what?" Clara didn't get it.

"With himself! Give me the radio." "Hey Dad, this is Jules. If you climb down the ladder yourself, it should swing into the correct position. Understand?"

"Brilliant, Jules! I should have thought of that myself. Fortunately the wind is staying stable enough that the train should be able to keep itself stable without constant pilot input."

"Should, Dad?"

"Ninety-eight percent sure. I'll be right down." Emmett quickly rummaged through a large backpack and pulled out a thick, waterproof jacket and a matching pair of gloves. He threw it on, buttoned it up, and fastened the pack on his back. After slipping his strong hands into the gloves, he turned so he was facing away from the door and began climbing down - or rather, along - the ladder.

AN: Sorry for the long delay. Been busy and lazy and stuff. I put up TWO chapters rather than one, as a peace offering. Oh, and I finished the story a few days ago. So I have three more chapters to put up some time. :D


	8. Ladder Ride

Chapter 8

Emmett gripped the sides of the rope ladder as tight as he could, while the fierce wind tried to pry him off. He was nearly to the ground now, and moving more vertical than horizontal. His decent was complicated by the fact that the rung below him was always blown out horizontal. This made it difficult to locate each running, and forced him to push it down into position with his foot. After climbing down three more rungs, his feet reached the ground.

Immediately, his family shuffled over to him from the shelter of their tree, holding onto each other for stability. He let go of the ladder with one hand, and slipped the left hand strap of his bag off his shoulder. "Clara, I'm about to change hands so you can take the pack from me. It has the jackets and gloves in it," he shouted as loudly as he could.

Clara nodded and stood by to take the pack, holding onto the ladder for support. She received the pack without mishap and began dressing he boys and herself in the protective clothes.

"I need to stay here to hold down the ladder, so you'll need to help the boys climb past me," Emmett instructed at the top of his voice.

Clara shouted instructions to Jules and Verne to ensure that they fully understood. Then, with Emmett sitting as low as he could on the ladder, she hoisted u- Verne. He grabbed onto the ladder as soon as he could, and scrambled up so he could get his feet on it properly. On the ground below, Jules helped his mother keep her balance in the strong wind.

Verne yelled something down to his family, but the wind carried his voice far away. It mustn't have been important, as he returned to the tricky process of climbing up the ladder. On the ground, Clara began lifting Jules onto the ladder.

Without warning, the ladder began to drift away, dragging the loose end (though it wasn't very loose, due to the wind) along the ground. Jules lunged at the ladder, missed, and fell to the ground as Clara lost her balance leaning forwards. Not wanting to waste any time, she helped him up again and started following after the ladder as carefully as she could.

"Clara! Watch out..."

The dragging portion of the ladder neatly caught her foot and brought her to the ground again. Jules picked himself out of the mud, sick of being dropped. Within seconds, the driving wind and rain had washed him clean. Thinking quickly, he trudged around to the other side of the ladder, took a short run-up, and jumped as high as he could.

Jules' parents watched in amazement as he grabbed onto one of the ropes of the ladder and swung around to the correct side of the ladder. After a short scuffle he managed to get a firm foothold and followed after Verne.

"You turn now, Clara," Emmett shouted to her."

"How can I get up? There's no way I'm doing what Verne did!" she called back, straining to be heard against the roaring of the wind and rain.

"You'll have to climb up the other side a little way and climb around. I'll help you. Put that pack on your back - we don't want to lose it."

"Can't I just hold onto the ladder, and you start climbing up? Then I can easily follow behind you," Clara argued as she secured the pack straps around her shoulders.

"No, I refuse to have you go last. Quickly now, I don't know how much time we have left before something more drastic occurs!"

Clara complied, and began to climb up the opposite side of the ladder to Emmett. When she was high enough, she edged as close as she could manage to the left side of the ladder. She removed the foot on that side, trying to reach around to the other side of the ladder. Emmett reached up and helped push her foot into the right position. With her foot on the other side, she gradually moved around so that her right foot was the only thing on the wrong side, and then moved it around to follow the first. As soon as she was fully on the right side of the ladder, she began climbing, moving as fast as she could without being blown away by he howling wind.

A sudden shudder passed through the length of the ladder. Clara looked upwards to see that the ladder had snagged on the remains of a tree branch. The drifting of the train into the slightly diminished wind had threaded the branch through the ladder like thread through the eye of a needle.

"Emmett!" Clara yelled down to her husband. "We're caught on a tree!"

Due to the weather conditions, Emmett could not actually hear what she said, but he deduced the problem from the new tension on the ladder. He looked up to se exactly what had happened. It was not good. Knowing shouting was futile, he clung on tightly to the soaking wet ladder with his left hand and used his right hand for the radio.

A fair way above, Jules reached the top of the ladder and scrambled into the cab, joining Verne who had already reached safety. "What a relief!" he declared as he flopped onto the floor. "That was wild!"

"Yeah. Mom and Dad better get up here soo..."

An electronic crackling noise interrupted him, followed by his father's voice from a radio on the floor. "Boys, do you hear me?"

Jules deftly scooped up the radio. "I hear you, Dad. What's up?"

"The train has been drifting forwards, and the ladder has caught on a tree. We can't get up, and the ladder is being pulled so tight that it may snap a rung!"

"You need us to slow down a little?"

"Precisely, but only a small amount!"

Jules scrabbled around the control console. "I have the throttle fine control lever. Clear to reduce one click?"

"Clear."

Jules moved the throttle lever a tiny amount. "Did that do it?"

"I don't think it's pulling any tighter, but we need to slacken off and unhook. I'd say reduce by two more clicks."

Jules pulled the lever a little more. "Is that better?"

"Yes, we're drifting away from the tree now. We should be alright so long as the wind holds."

"Get up here as soon as you can, Dad!"

"Don't worry, I'll be as fast as I safely can."

"Is Mom alright?"

"Yes, and I expect she's listening to our conversation on her radio. There, we're all clear and she's started climbing again."

"Great to hear, Dad. I suggest hovering up a little, so we don't hit any more trees."

"Go ahead, but do it slowly. It's hard enough to hang on as it is."

"I hear you." Jules slightly increased the power to the primary hover circuits, and the train began to gradually gain altitude.

With no further mishaps, both Clara and Emmett reached the top of the ladder and made it safely into the cab. "Leave the jackets on for now," Emmett directed. "I you you're wet, but they are waterproof and will keep you warmer if you leave them on. Try not to drip on anything electronic, and I'll pull up the ladder."

He did this, though it was a massive effort to pull against the wind. Eventually he managed to get it all in, and rolled it up to keep it out of the way until he had time to dry (and wash) it properly. With the ladder out of the way, he closed the door, and prepared for temporal displacement.

"We'll turn around and go with the wind, to save power. Everyone hold on tight."

Every one held on tight and the train made a wide, slow turn. The wind tried to carry it away, but Emmett anticipated the change in forces and made the necessary corrections. Now flying with the wind, the flying train quickly accelerated towards eighty-eight miles per hour.

Emmett switched on the repaired time circuits and punched in the correct destination time. The train's velocity swept past seventy... then through eighty, topped ninety..."

"Great Scott! The temporal displacement sequence failed to initialise!"


	9. Mountains Ahead

Chapter 9

Clara gasped in shock. Verne dropped his head to his knees. Jules blurted out, "I thought you ran exhaustive tests!"

"Yes, yes I did. There must be some other type of fault elsewhere in the system that is preventing displacement."

"Then why are there no warning lights?" Jules wondered.

Emmett snapped his fingers. "I didn't bother to connect them, that's why. That should teach me to cut corners. I'll need to calculate the error code manually. Pass me the screwdriver, will you?"

"Look out! Mountains ahead!" Clara suddenly warned.

Emmett did look, and saw a terrible sight. Massive tectonic activity had pushed up a huge line of earth and rock, and the train was hurtling towards it at over a hundred and thirty miles per hour. He quickly turned the train aside while reducing the speed as much as he could. After a tense minute of attempting to stabilise the train's position, he was ready to start tracking down the problem.

With the faceplate off, the inventor started probing a row of connection blocks with a multimeter. "The first two are high... the next four low, another high, and... a low. That's error sixty-seven. Great Scott! The flux-capacitor's fusion generator fuel tank is depleted!"

Jules instantly started looking for solutions. "Can we use the generator for the hover systems?"

"No, they aren't connected. I'd need to rewire the power circuitry, and that would require shutting down the hover system entirely, which in turn requires that we land. I would very much prefer to avoid landing." The inventor gestured to the world outside the window to illustrate his point.

"I figure we don't want to go down and collect plants for fuel either. Can we take some fuel from the full tank and put it in the empty tank?" Jules suggested after a moment's thought.

Emmett checked the levels. "No, there isn't enough fusionable matter to initiate displacement. Driving the flux capacitor is an extremely intensive process. And besides, the fuel consists largely of waste vegetable matter, which is not easy to transfer."

"Vegetable matter!" Clara exclaimed. "We have plenty of fruit scraps left over from our breakfast, and several pieces of uneaten fruit still in the basket."

"That's the answer! Quick, where's the basket?"

A quick search found the basket overturned in a corner, it's contents scattered. The boys eventually turned up three apples and an orange amongst various pieces of debris on the floor. They certainly didn't look edible, due to the number of bruises they had recently received, so no one minded giving them up for fuel.

"It's a good thing I installed the refuelling points to the inside of the cab. I wouldn't want to be climbing around the outside of the train in this sort of weather," Emmett observed while his wife chopped up the fruit.

"Whoa, that mountain is acting weird!" exclaimed Verne who was looking out the window.

His father turned to see what his son was talking about. Through the torrential rain, he could see the mountain they had come uncomfortably close to a little earlier. It had grown a lot larger in the elapsed time, and was shaking violently. "Great Scott! It appears to be developing towards a volcanic eruption. I've never actually witnessed a volcanic eruption. This is most interesting. From what I can tell..."

"Dad, we need to get out of here!" Verne protested.

"You are right, Verne: we must not waste valuable time in scientific observation when we should be saving our hides! "Clara, is the fruit ready yet?"

"I'm on the last piece, Emmett. There, it's ready. Should I just drop it in?"

"Yes. That's the way. I wish I'd used a system that could use unprocessed matter, but at least I thought to install the refuel points to the inside, not the outside," Emmett said aloud as he finished reinstalling the faceplate he had removed earlier. "I'm not eager to climb around on the outside of the train in these conditions. Is it all in? Good, let's get out of here!"

As everyone braced themselves for transit, Emmett started accelerating the train forwards. "It's no good," he said in frustration after half a minute. "I'll need to turn back around and go with the wind."

Verne gasped. "But that'll take us back to where you said there's gonna be a volcano!"

Emmett nodded seriously. "It's our only chance to get out of here. Everyone hold on tight!" He spun the flying train around, much too fast for the comfort of its passengers. The train burst forwards with maximum acceleration, helped along by the ferocious wind. As its speed passed sixty miles an hour, the rumbling sound from below became louder. It could be easily heard over the noise of the wind, rain, and hover thrusters.

Inside, the speed display topped seventy. Outside, the mountain quaked and bulged. Inside, the display passed eighty. Almost directly below, the mountain burst under the tectonic pressure. The display hit eighty-eight miles per hour. An electric blue flash passed through the train. With a sound that went unheard behind the volcanic eruption, it vanished from the rain-filled atmosphere. For a brief moment, a trail of fire stood in the sky, before a stream of flaming rock and lava eclipsed it.


	10. Heavy Wrapup

Chapter 10

"That was pretty heavy, Doc," Marty remarked. "I figure you got back to the right time and place without any more trouble."

"Actually, we arrived in quite another location and had to find our way back to Hill Valley. That was an adventure in itself. I believe the shift in location was due to the unusual circumstances of being caught in transition for more than an instant, if it is correct to use such terminology. Actually, it was that event that sparked my interest in developing technology to alter the destination location in a controlled fashion," Emmett explained, leaning against his lab bench.

"Wow, that's quite some story. What did your kids think?" Marty asked as he fiddled with a short piece of wire he'd picked up from somewhere.

"They were certainly uncomfortable around rain for a while, but rainbows seemed to fix that problem. Verne wrote a rather long string of comics about his adventures."

"He's a pretty artistic kid, isn't he? Quite different to Jules, who tends to be more... uh, technical."

"Good observation. My, look at the time! We've been talking for the whole afternoon!"

"Sorry, Doc, you had a lot of work to get done, didn't you? I've distracted you and now you're behind your schedule!"

"No, Marty, don't blame yourself. It was a story that had to be told. And besides, looking through my plans while talking, I've decided to take the train to the future and do the work there - or then, I mean. It will be much easier and faster, and will take up no time at home."

"That's a smart way to work. Do you want me to come?"

"I'm afraid not. I can do the work myself, and I would prefer to keep the number of people displaced from the present to a minimum. We don't need mire trouble along the lines of what happened last time you..."

"No need to explain, Doc. I get the idea. Actually, I'd better get going before my folks start to worry. It's been good to talk."

"Thankyou for listening, Marty. It's been a pleasure."

"I'll see you next time, whenever that occurs. And I hope everything keeps going will with Clara... and the twins."

"Thankyou for your concern. I'll pass that message on to her soon."

"Thanks, Doc. Say, I wonder how much other stuff I heard back at Sunday School actually happened?" Marty asked with a wry grin.

"More than you might expect, Marty. More than you might expect. And there's one sure way of finding out," the inventor added with a twinkle in his eye.

The End.


End file.
